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'Compelling, remorseless, brilliant' John Gray When he got to his door, he was surprised not to hear any noise in the kitchen and not to smell any food. He went in, crossed the dining room, where the table had not been laid, and at last saw Madame Maigret, in her slip, busy taking off her stockings. This was so unlike her that he could find nothing to say, and when she saw him standing there wide-eyed, she burst out laughing. Inspector Maigret's wife turns sleuth after a strange encounter in show more a Paris square leads her on the trail of a woman in a white hat, and towards a grisly tale of deception and greed. Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels in new translations. 'His artistry is supreme' John Banville 'A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness' Independent show lessTags
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One large reason that I so enjoyed The Madman of Bergerac and Maigret's Holiday is that patient, insightful Louise Maigret plays a larger role than usual in those novels. That’s once again true in this novel, the 34th in this wonderful series. First released in English in 1959 with the more accurate title Madame Maigret’s Own Case, this 34th novel in the Maigret series is one of the best for Madame Maigret fans like myself.
The current title is a bit of a misnomer. You know how it is: You strike up an acquaintance with someone you see regularly in the park — you never even learn each other’s names, it’s so casual. So it is with Madame Maigret, who regularly meets a woman dressed in a tailored blue suit with a fine white hat. show more The woman speaks near-perfect French, but the pretty 2-year-old boy with her speaks something else. All of a sudden, the woman hands over her child to Madame Maigret and vanishes not for a few minutes, as promised, but for two hours. By that time, Madame Maigret is frantic! The mother returns in a taxi, takes the child and leaves without explanation. Madame Maigret never even learned either the woman’s or her child’s names.
Meanwhile, an anonymous call alleges that the best and most expensive bookbinder in Paris has been burning a body in his furnace. Police do find two teeth and a bloodied blue suit, but the bookbinder, Frans Steuvels, insists that he’s completely innocent. So Maigret, assisted by the very young Lapointe, sets out to find out. A very intricate mystery, and highly, highly recommended. show less
The current title is a bit of a misnomer. You know how it is: You strike up an acquaintance with someone you see regularly in the park — you never even learn each other’s names, it’s so casual. So it is with Madame Maigret, who regularly meets a woman dressed in a tailored blue suit with a fine white hat. show more The woman speaks near-perfect French, but the pretty 2-year-old boy with her speaks something else. All of a sudden, the woman hands over her child to Madame Maigret and vanishes not for a few minutes, as promised, but for two hours. By that time, Madame Maigret is frantic! The mother returns in a taxi, takes the child and leaves without explanation. Madame Maigret never even learned either the woman’s or her child’s names.
Meanwhile, an anonymous call alleges that the best and most expensive bookbinder in Paris has been burning a body in his furnace. Police do find two teeth and a bloodied blue suit, but the bookbinder, Frans Steuvels, insists that he’s completely innocent. So Maigret, assisted by the very young Lapointe, sets out to find out. A very intricate mystery, and highly, highly recommended. show less
No-one's ever going to turn Simenon into a feminist hero, but he was clearly someone who was endlessly fascinated by women and the details of their lives, always provided that they fitted into one of his two available categories: housewives and prostitutes. Mme Maigret, of course, is one of the former, and in the opening chapter of this book we get to see the world from her point of view for a change. While waiting to see the dentist, chance makes her a key witness in a (possible) murder case that her husband is investigating. Possibly motivated by guilt about having burnt the Commissaire's lunch, she does a bit of investigating on her own initiative, and comes up with some vital clues, although it's Maigret himself who gets the glory show more for putting all the pieces together and solving the case, naturellement.
Mme Maigret's intervention probably accounts for about 10% of the novel (the parts concerning shoes, hats and small children), and for the rest it is a very conventional sort of Maigret story. It is interesting and entertaining, though, and I couldn't help being reminded of that other famously unreconstructed lady detective created by a male author, Mma Ramotswe. show less
Mme Maigret's intervention probably accounts for about 10% of the novel (the parts concerning shoes, hats and small children), and for the rest it is a very conventional sort of Maigret story. It is interesting and entertaining, though, and I couldn't help being reminded of that other famously unreconstructed lady detective created by a male author, Mma Ramotswe. show less
Not one of my favourite Simenon Maigret novels. However, the role of Madame Maigret is excellent and her little cameo of detective work about a hat is brilliant. I found the plot a bit contrived and tricky. Also, it is sometimes quite difficult to suspend one's disbelief about telephones or the lack of them. All the time Madame Maigret was stranded in the park and couldn't leave the young child and couldn't get to the dentist and couldn't ring Maigret, I was thinking - just pick up your mobile phone. I wonder how the younger generation of readers deals with this outmoded reality.
This was a very well traveled little book. I read it on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean. I was priced at 3/6, published in the UK before I was born, and had a sticker that it came from Little Elm library. So it's been around the block a few times.
My first Maigret, this features Madame Maigret. She starts off being abandoned in a square near her dentists when a woman with a child asks her to look after the boy for a bit. She does, only "a bit" turns into a few hours and burns her dinner. At which point Maigret gets involved and realises this is a link to his current troublesome case, involving a book maker and a burnt body in his furnace. There are a load of twists and turns while he tries to get to the bottom of quite a complicated show more case.
I don't know where this comes in the series, but It felt like it wasn't an early one, it feels like the characters and his habits are well established. That didn't feel like a drawback and I can see myself trying another one at some point. show less
My first Maigret, this features Madame Maigret. She starts off being abandoned in a square near her dentists when a woman with a child asks her to look after the boy for a bit. She does, only "a bit" turns into a few hours and burns her dinner. At which point Maigret gets involved and realises this is a link to his current troublesome case, involving a book maker and a burnt body in his furnace. There are a load of twists and turns while he tries to get to the bottom of quite a complicated show more case.
I don't know where this comes in the series, but It felt like it wasn't an early one, it feels like the characters and his habits are well established. That didn't feel like a drawback and I can see myself trying another one at some point. show less
Dry police procedural which is not one of Simenon's better efforts, IMHO. The title in English is somewhat misleading insofar that Mme. Maigret's contributions to solving the case are not the central focus of the narrative.
Madame Maigret is sitting on a bench in the square across from her dentist. Her habit is to arrive a little early for her appointment and enjoy sitting outside. She has made the acquaintance of a lady who was regularly there with a small boy. This particular day, the lady asks Madame Maigret to mind the boy for a few minutes. Those few minutes stretched into a couple of hours, till the lady showed up. The lady grabbed the child and told Madam she’s explain things the next day, then jumped into a cab and rode off.
Chief Inspector Maigret’s current case involves a burned body in the furnace of a bookbinder. Two human teeth had been found and are the only clue to the crime.
When Madame Maigret tells her husband about the incident, he show more finds it intriguing and decides to investigate; something a little distracting from his current case.
Through seriously following any and all leads, discarding the dead ends and making connections between ones that seem related Maigret is able to piece together both mysteries, while following the erratic path.
If you enjoy Commissario Brunetti or Chief Inspector Gamache, you may enjoy Chief Inspector Maigret. show less
Chief Inspector Maigret’s current case involves a burned body in the furnace of a bookbinder. Two human teeth had been found and are the only clue to the crime.
When Madame Maigret tells her husband about the incident, he show more finds it intriguing and decides to investigate; something a little distracting from his current case.
Through seriously following any and all leads, discarding the dead ends and making connections between ones that seem related Maigret is able to piece together both mysteries, while following the erratic path.
If you enjoy Commissario Brunetti or Chief Inspector Gamache, you may enjoy Chief Inspector Maigret. show less
Probably better read in french, which I used to be able to do as the vocabulary is pretty limited. Reminds me of my Dad who used to love Maigret, and Paris, and France. I might try another one and see if the charm survives the years a little better.
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The prolific Belgian-born writer Georges Simenon produced hundreds of fictional works under his own name and 17 pseudonyms, in addition to more than 70 books about Inspector Maigret, long "the favorite sleuth of highbrow detective-story readers" (SR). More than 50 "Simenons" have been made into films. In addition to his mystery stories, he wrote show more what he called "hard" books, the serious psychological novels numbering well over 100. The autobiographical Pedigree, set in his native town of Liege, is perhaps his finest work. The publication of Simenon's intimate memoirs also attracted considerable attention. Simenon himself once said that he would never write a "great novel." Yet Gide called him "a great novelist, perhaps the greatest and truest novelist we have in French literature today," and Thornton Wilder (see Vol. 1) found that Simenon's narrative gift extends "to the tips of his fingers." The following are some of Simenon's novels, exclusive of the Maigret detective stories, that are in print. (Bowker Author Biography) Georges Simenon was born on February 13, 1903 in Liege, Belgium. He wrote more than 200 fiction works under 16 different pseudonyms. His first book, The Case of Peter the Lent led to 80 more of the like including the main character, Inspector Maigret. He published over 400 books that were translated into 50 different languages and sold by the millions. He also wrote psychological novels, including The Man Who Watched the Train Go By. He died on September 4, 1989 in Lausanne. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Madame Maigret's Friend
- Original title
- L'amie de Madame Maigret
- Alternate titles*
- Madame Maigrets Freundin
- Original publication date
- 1950
- People/Characters*
- Jules Maigret; Louise Maigret; André Lucas; Frans Steuvels; Fernande Steuvels
- Important places
- Paris, France
- Related movies
- Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret (1977) T1 E35 (1977)
- First words
- The chicken was on the stove, along with a fine red carrot, a big onion and a bunch of parsley, the ends sticking out of the pan.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The Countess Panetti's jewels hadn't left Claridge's -- they were still in one of the trunks she had deposited there -- and the cobbler in the Rue de Turenne never admitted, even when he was dead drunk, that he had written the anonymous letter.
- Blurbers
- Faulkner, William; Spark, Muriel; Wilson, A. N.; Ackroyd, Peter; Gide, André; Brookner, Anita (show all 10); James, P. D.; Gray, John; Banville, John; Appleyard, Bryan
- Original language
- French
- Disambiguation notice
- Originally published in French as: L'Amie de Mme Maigret in 1950. Variously translated in English as:
(1) Madame Maigret's Own Case, translated by Helen Sebba (1959) (also published with the title Madame ... (show all)Maigret's Friend in the UK (1960) and with the title The Friend of Madame Maigret (2003)) and;
(2) Madame Maigret's Friend, translated by Howard Curtis (2016).
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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